Acute Induction of Ganglion Cell Death and Generation of Mouse Model of Glaucoma by N-Methyl-D-Aspartate

Glaucoma is an optic neuropathy that causes loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGC) and leads to blindness. This disease is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. For pre-clinical studies and finding novel therapies, using functional animal models is unavoidable. One of these models is the mice treated with N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA). The aim of this study was the acute induction of ganglion cell death and generation of mouse experimental model of glaucoma by N-Methyl-D-Aspartate. In this experimental study, the creation of model mice with NMDA neurotoxin were created. For this purpose, retinal cell damage was induced in vivo in mice by intravitreal injection of NMDA. After removing the eyes, tissue analyses were performed on sample and control eyes. After tissue staining, the number of ganglion cells and the thickness of the retina layers and Ganglion Cell Complex (GCC) were evaluated. In addition, number of ganglion cells, thicknesses of the retina, and GCC of the optic nerve disc were measured in samples.
One-way ANOVA and SPSS 22 software were used to analyze the data. Findings: Only 3 days after the injection to eye samples of NMDA, the thickness of the GCC and retinal layers as well as the number of ganglion cells significantly decreased compared to the control samples. The 50% reduction in the number of ganglion cells in the glucoma sample was confirmed. Three days after the injection of NMDA to eye samples, the thickness of the GCC and retinal layers as well as the number of ganglion cells is significantly decreased compared to the control samples.